nhweaver

I am getting ready to hand quilt designs onto a quilt and have never used Ponce. I think I have to use their stencils, or will any stencils work? Is it messy? Or should i trace using washable ink, or what are other methods to transfer designs onto the quilt? I am not confident using anything that is "too technical", please help me.

Skittl1321

If you are doing an all over design, this won't work, but when I do motifs inside blocks, I trace them once onto tracing paper, then take a stack of like 8 sheets of paper, and sew over the design with a needle without thread (to perforate). Then I sew over the tracing paper when doing the quilting. The perforation makes it easier to remove the paper.

For me, this is just the easiest way. I got the idea from Geta: http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.co...ting-tips.html

Before that, I never marked designs at all.

mary quilting

great idea thanks for the tip on my Christmas tree design I traced all the paper this would have been faster

feline fanatic

The above suggestions are for machine quilting. The OP asked about hand quilting. The pounce pad will work but you need to use the ultimate pounce powder, the kind that stays until you wash or remove with an iron. The regular pounce chalk will rub off too easily and most of your marks will be gone, unless you mark as you go which is quite do-able, I have hand quilted many quilts that I marked as I went.

I believe the only pounce powder available in ultimate is the white, so if your quilt is light colored you will have to use the blue powder and then you will need to mark as you go. I have heard if you spray your chalk mark with cheap hairspray once applied to the quilt it will stay until you wash it out. I have not tried this myself but it certainly sounds like a good idea that would work.

Contrary to what the name of the product implies, you do not "pounce" the pounce pad over the stencil, you rub it over the stencil like rubbing an eraser over a chalkboard. You first "load" the pad with chalk by giving it a sharp rap against a hard surface with the cover on. Then you gently swipe or rub the pad over your stencil.

You can use any stencil, not just Pounce's own stencils but I have found stencils that have pointy bits tend to bend and snag on the pad sometimes. It is a bit of an annoyance and you just have to remember to go carefully over those parts of the stencil and try not to rub into the point. Hard to describe in the written word. Once you do it you will understand what I am talking about.

Pounce is a quick and easy product to work with. Much less time consuming then trying to trace your stencil with a water soluble pen. I have found that many of those pens points don't fit nicely in the stencil cut out.

Tartan

If my top is dark, I use my Fons and Porter chalk pump pencil. I do have to wash the quilt to completely remove the marks. On light fabric tops I used painter's tape for straight lines and contact paper (mactac)for simple designs. I cut the outline out of the contact paper and it will stick to the quilt top for quite a few blocks. I have used the water erasable marking pens and they do work well. Pounce will work if you do one block at a time. Test your marking stuff for removal on a scrap before trying any new method on your qult.

NJ Quilter

I've not had great success with the pounce pad but that was before I heard about 'wiping' it over the stencil vs. 'pouncing' it. I usually use either the pump chalk pencil in a color that I can easily see on the fabric, or I use a #2 mechanical pencil. I also have a Bohin mechanical pencil with a white lead that I use for dark colored fabrics. I've never had an issue with any of these products washing out when I'm done. Depending on the design, most times I'll mark as I go. I have a little 'lap desk' that sits by my chair and when I need to move my quilting hoop, I just lay the quilt on the lap desk, have my stencil and appropriate marker handy and mark until I don't feel like marking any more or until that particular stencil-worth is complete. Re-hoop my quilt and continue on my merry way. If it's a complicated stencil with an all-over design, I'll generally mark the entire top before sandwiching.

yngldy

I have heard if you spray your chalk mark with cheap hairspray once applied to the quilt it will stay until you wash it out.

Make sure it is the spray in the pump and not in the can. The pressure from the can blew my chalk markings away!

JustAbitCrazy

I once had trouble removing the blue pounce chalk, so I am reluctant to use it again. Now when I need to use chalk on a light background I mix the white pounce chalk with the white blacklight chalk (because it's expensive) and pounce that. Under a blacklight, the chalk lines glow fluorescent green.

ghostrider

I've heard some quilter's add cinnamon to the white chalk to make it show on lighter fabrics, too. Never tried it myself, but I bet it makes the act of quilting smell great!. I use my trusty sewline pencil, even with stencils.

J.M.

What method do you use to remove the sewline pencil afterwards? Do you wash the quilt or remove the lines first?